Hot sweaty submarine story

[AndriandBarblin]

Opinions sought on viability of this as a Literotica story.

It is December 10, 1941. Cavite Navy Yard, Manila the Philippines. Two nights ago the yards were bombed. On her own a female civilian nautical engineer went to "her" boat and flooded the experimental craft's diving tanks and saved her from damage. Low woman on the totem pole at Ingalls Shipyards in Pascagoula, she was sent with the new submarine to the far east three months ago for equipment trials.

Today the Japanese Army landed troops in the north on some of the smaller islands. But it wouldn't be long before they were in the capital city. Many of the subs at Cavite had been holed and were not ready for action. Others were busily being repaired with cannibalized parts. There were many more submariners than needed to crew the surviving pig-boats.

As soon as the those boats that were salvageable set sail the extra sailors would be given rifles. She knew the ship like the back of her hand and helped design its engine back in Alabama. She just needed a helmsman, an electrician, a diving officer, a pipe fitter, a torpedoman and a navigator.

The ship had plenty of fuel on board but it needed torpedoes since they hadn't been armed. That shouldn't be a problem, she decided. Six or seven willing recruits and weapons. Screw leaving the Far East, she was a damned Razorback and she wasn't going to sit behind a drafting table. She was going to fight.

She needed strong guys to manhandle those fish. She wasn't in bad shape for her late 20s. Her recruitment "spiel" was simple and touched a deep place in a navy man's, well, gonads. She was the ship's "boss," they would follow her. She would put out for each of them. No jealousy was allowed. It got pretty hot in the boat, if they were doing it anyway they didn't really need to be clothed.

She accomplished the boat's "unofficial" periodic resupply by her talents in and out of the water. Nobody denied her any reasonable thing she requested. The boat finished the war with an impressive collection of war patrols. But how do you tell the story of the female civilian captain and her naked amorous crew? Naval brass edited the "true" story out of the official history of the Pacific Campaign.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

I'd like to read that - it'd be a great alternate-history tale, done right!

It's Navy, so - don't forget bureaucracy. Wartime, struggling to get onto a war footing, and dealing with long-term officers hidebound to the Book, (insert genuflection here)

Getting the torps IMO is the biggie. No one will leave those behind, they'd either get loaded on a sub, onto a sub-tender/cargo ship, or blown up. Too much big boom to just let the enemy get their hands on 'em.

Hrmm. She sank it to avoid getting shot up - what if the brass didn't think it thru and just assumed it'd gotten sunk during the fight? They got bombed, next morning they look around and look - hey - that one's underwater. Musta been hit bad. Ignore it.

That'll save it from getting a 'normal' crew or getting pieced-parts'd out to other boats.

Don't forget food & water. Yes, there's lots of water around, but it's not potable, and IIRC WWII subs didn't have desalination.

Do a little research, pick a class and work out from there stats. It'll keep the detail nerds (like me) off your kiester, and adds verisimilitude.

Maybe pull a 'Titanic' and have the skipper giving an interview modern-day about her wartime adventures, then do a cut scene back to the war?

 

[bettiezyx]

20,000 leagues?

Oh. joy. diesel fumes. & heat. & OMG all those joints that have to be maintained. & everybody'd have to be short. & those torpedos are heavier than hell. Did anyone do a naughty version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea? Plush & comfortable & totally impossible...plenty of room to avoid historical pitfalls.

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

Edit: Upon reflection, I think my original post is a good way to ruin the storytelling experience. You're writing an erotic story about a scenario that's not intended (I don't think) to be terribly realistic. I leave the previous post here, partly because UP already responded to it, and partly because some people - like me - are gluttons for punishment, in which case, I am handing you the flogger.

To atone for my study guide, I offer the following cheats to avoid running into conflicts of fact:

Consider changing the names of the locations to something imaginary. You can still follow exactly the same pattern, but you won't butt up against that location's actual history.

Consider making the sub she takes a prototype for a brand new class. It doesn't stop you from basing it on a particular class of sub, but if you don't have the details just so, it's because it's a new kind of sub. That also allows certain freedoms from technical restrictions, within reason.

Consider making said prototype a big secret. That makes it easier to explain all sorts of bureaucratic issues.

Hopefully, that frees you to concentrate on things that add color, like jargon and traditions.

I think it sounds like a story that could do very well on Lit.
______________________________________________


I think UsuallyPresent's suggestion about doing the research is important, but I suggest going easy on the technical detail. You'll need the research just to keep from blundering into something that people will know is wrong. However, if you try to get into a great deal of detail, you will inevitably trip over things that you can't possibly know about or research.

Even if you were factually flawless, some readers' eyes would glaze over if you go into extreme detail. I think that like so many subjects, the author has to try to acquire detailed knowledge just to get the broader strokes right, but it's important to stick with broader strokes. As long as things are accurate, I doubt you'll rub anyone the wrong way if you don't get into the minutia. With the broad strokes correct, you can add subject matter color with terminology or a procedural description here or there without bogging down the whole story with it.

You could work with someone the right background who can fly-spec the kind of details UsuallyPresent's talking about. It's just the only way to catch some stuff. I would offer a caution from my own experience though. It's important for the author to be conscious of retaining their own vision. A subject matter expert may have a tendency to try to pour too much of the detail they're enthusiastic about into the story, or they may lobby to force your plot to bend to the constraints of strict adherence to the subject matter facts.

Since it is a fictional story, I think it's up to you how strictly you want to adhere to history. I'll just use the the nonexistent desalination capabilities UP mentioned as an example. Even though they didn't exist, I'm not too sure there was a technical reason they couldn't exist. I could easily be wrong about that, but for the sake of the example, let's just assume it could have been invented. Maybe the sub was equipped with a special test version that had just been invented.

I'm not seriously suggesting the desalinization tech for the story. You don't need it. You're already planning on resupply efforts. (You said so.) It's just an example of the kind of plot device that can get steamrolled by a subject matter expert. And I say that only as a caveat to the suggestion to work with such a person. There's just really no substitute for that kind of knowledge. It can cut down on your research time, too, because they usually already know where to look for the resources. (They will bury you in resources!)

Good luck with your story!

 

[UsuallyPresent]

I think UsuallyPresent's suggestion about doing the research is important, but I suggest going easy on the technical detail.

Oh, definitely agree, but figuring out how much food, fuel &water these subs carried gives you an upper limit on how long they could run. That kind of thing stays in the background, probably never detailed explicitly in the text, but understanding the challenges that crew will face can help you keep your tale self-consistent.

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

Oh, definitely agree, but figuring out how much food, fuel &water these subs carried gives you an upper limit on how long they could run. That kind of thing stays in the background, probably never detailed explicitly in the text, but understanding the challenges that crew will face can help you keep your tale self-consistent.

I am an absolute monster at over-engineering things. Sometimes it doesn't occur to me that other people aren't.

 

[LWulf]

ahem, a creative concept with one slight, small, little, insignificant detail, hardly worth mentioning.

Ingalls SHIPyard didn't make boats (aka submarines) until 1957.

Electric BOAT made submarines, as did Manitowoc SHIPbuilding (located in the Great Lakes), but Manitowoc didn't start building BOATS until 1942. So, by your timeline, Electric Boat is the company you want to use in your story.

Electric boat, currently in Connecticut, had two boat manufacturing facilities back in 1941; Portsmouth Navy Yard in New Hampshire, and... Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSy) in California (near Vallejo, California).

As an alternate location, it's not bad, but troubling at the same time. It's well within the the "San Fransisco Bay" (actually in the San Pablo Bay just east of San Fransisco Bay) located approx 26 miles, as the crow flies, past the Golden Gate Bridge. In other words well within US territory, and thereby well defended.

For reference, the submarines used in 1941 would be a Gato class diesel electric submarine (mod 1), similar to the one used in the movie "Operation Petticoat." However that class BOAT was a Balao class which was first commissioned in 1942 and manufactured at Manitowoc.
https://hon-haka.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Submarine-Cutout.png

Definitely a location where a "Rosie the riveter" would have worked, however I don't know if a woman would have worked as an engineer (anywhere) and even then, engineers (male or female) wouldn't necessarily have intimate knowledge of HOW a boat works. Engineers design systems! In fact, even as a "Rosie the riveter" boat yards built the hull only. They assembled systems pre-built elsewhere.

For reference, the highest level of engineers for boats and ships are currently called Naval Architects, but I don't know when that nomenclature came into use. Naval architects know all systems on board a ship/boat. Under them are Mechanical Engineers which focus on propulsion and mechanical systems onboard.

I wasn't around back then, but all research suggests MINSY was never attacked during WWII. A small loophole you might creatively bypass.

For reference, in naval parlance, the conning tower structure on a sub is called a "sail." This acts as a vertical stabilizer underwater, and allows the boat to float on the surface without getting swamped during rough seas. It also makes for a tactically high location to search from. Since submarines are round in section view, if a submarine didn't have a sail, it might roll over and go belly up. Just saying.

I don't believe "diving" officer is a correct term. "Dive" officer sounds more correct.

While it's possible that rifles may be issued, guns were probably more common, and the Gato class boat had a deck gun outfitted a-fore of the sail. and machine guns mounted on the conning tower, and aft.
The gato had fore and aft torpedo rooms.

WWII submarines were extremely vulnerable when caught in the wrong combination of circumstances. Subs like the Gato-class boats were really highly modified surface ships that could spend limited amounts of time under water on battery power.

The lower spaces of these subs were filled with giant lead acid batteries that allowed the boat to remain submerged for up to 48 hours and maneuver slowly (9 knots). ALL subs, move faster on the surface and increasingly slower the deeper they are. While on the surface, a boat runs on, in this case, diesel power where they can vent the noxious fumes, but diesel engines, while faster than battery power, are much more noisy. In enemy territory, this was like ringing the dinner bell. On surface, they could recharge their batteries, by running the diesel engines, but they were more likely to try to outrun other surface ships, until their batteries were recharged enough to hide underwater.

Sailors referred to submarines as "pig boats" (not officers or and especially naval architects).

Submarines, especially older style subs had very little in the way of "comfort." Besides the commanding officer (CO) or skipper, and few other officers, the common "door" was more often than not, a cloth sheet, if any at all. Watertight bulkheads had "hatches" which could be "dogged" closed. All doors onboard submarines, regardless of how watertight are, I believe, referred to as "hatches." In the pressure hull, there was a rear deck hatch, a conning tower hatch, and a forward hatch. There was a "cigarette" deck aft of the conning tower hatch, where crew used to smoke cigarettes (this was the 1940's. everyone smoked cigarettes).

In story telling, I agree, you should use the lightest reference to military terms, however, when you do, it is important to use the proper terms, or cause knowledgeable readers to roll their eyes.
Here is a short list of WWII submarine terms.

In addition:
"theater" is a general area of conflict, for instance, the "Pacific theater."
Operations is the codename term for certain military activities. for instance "operation downfall, in the pacific theater."
Deck - It's not a floor, but as deck.
overhead - It's not a ceiling, it's an overhead (deck).
Sea Trials - this is what every boat endures post construction, but prior to being handed over to the military. It's a "shakedown run" where all functions of a ship are checked out as being functional. The culminating test being where the sub "touches bottom" (going down to it's estimated safe crush depth, and then they blow all ballast, where the boat rises like a rocket toward the surface and broaches the surface like a whale, before slapping back down. It's the most intense e-ride you'll ever be on.
hot bunking - this is what they refer to when you share a bunk with one or two other crew (NOT what you are thinking). With limited space aboard any ship, there is a potential to sleep on a bunk that was recently used by another crew member. That crew member would have "heated" the bunk by their body heat, and therefore the bunk is considered "hot" by the next crewman to sleep there. Shifts onboard a ship are generally three shifts, although when in conflict with enemy forces, shifts may become longer.

For reference, have you ever been in a pullman stateroom on a train? By comparison, most compartments on a sub make a pullman stateroom look like a room in the Waldorf Astoria. "small" and "cramped" does not come close to describing compartments in a boat. Unlike surface ships, submarines referred to their compartments as "rooms."

As to your concept of a female skipper, I highly doubt it. A CO is much more than just knowledgeable about how a boat functions, and it's limits. There is tactics, and knowing enemy strategies, and functions. If you wanted to make her an chief engineer, that is more plausible and yet still commands respect onboard ship. Try to remember, the first submarines used in WWII were new technology, and few sailors had the right training and mental conditioning to work on board a submarine. The latter being critical; to be mentally calm, under extreme stress. Claustrophobia, being underwater, and yet still manage to do your job, by following orders while attacking or being attacked is daily bread and butter for a submariner.

 

[LWulf]

oh, sorry to burst your bubble, but the Gato had air conditioning. Something of a rarity among other nations at the time. This proved to make fewer electrical shorts from condensation inside the hull, and made this boat more reliable than previous efforts.

 

[LWulf]

...
Don't forget food & water. Yes, there's lots of water around, but it's not potable, and IIRC WWII subs didn't have desalination.

The Gato class of boats had numerous crew comforts including air conditioning, refrigerated storage for food, generous freshwater distilling units, clothes washers, and bunks for nearly every crew member; these were luxuries virtually unheard of in other navies. The bureau designers felt that if a crew of 60–80 men were to be expected to conduct 75-day patrols in the warm waters of the Pacific, these types of features were vital to the health and efficiency of the crew. They could be added without impact to the boat's war fighting abilities due to the extra room of the big fleet boat. The air conditioning in particular had a very practical application, too, besides comfort. Submerge a submarine for any length of time, and the heat generated by the recently shut-down engines, electronic gear, and 70 warm bodies will quickly raise internal temperatures above 100 °F (38 °C). High humidity generated by tropical waters will quickly condense and begin dripping into equipment, eventually causing electrical shorts and fires. Air conditioning, acting mostly as a dehumidifier, virtually eliminates this problem and greatly increases mechanical and electrical reliability. It proved to be a key factor in the success of these boats during World War II.

The Gato class was all they had in 1941. Previous to that was the Gar and Tambour class, which were miserable failures to the Gato (named after a cat shark). This might also explain the "experimental" features onboard the submarine the OP proposed.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

Cool! Thanks for the data dump!

 

[LWulf]

Cool! Thanks for the data dump!

No worries. Some of it I remember, but I have to go to sources to confirm what the gray cells recollect. Having been a Naval Architect, designing subs, and various other positions in the same field for over 20 years, you collect a lot of "data."

 

[bettiezyx]

gawd

Reading/studying this & enjoying a beer. Gawd. THAT'S why I write sci-fi. Thanks Wulf!

 

[LWulf]

Reading/studying this & enjoying a beer. Gawd. THAT'S why I write sci-fi. Thanks Wulf!

tote out yer scifi and give me a bunch of "how does that work?" and I can give you a bunch of studies, facts and figures about how it's supposed to work. Exception: if it's close to a working theory of mine that I intend for one of my own stories, then I might have to pass on giving out ideas.

 

[bettiezyx]

editor got it

Yes, you'd be my first pick for editorial feedback if I was at that level. The website w/ the sub cutout was...off btw. talked to a lot of 404 pages as I poked around.

https://boingboing.net/2011/12/14/http-status-cats-by-girliemac.html

 

[LWulf]

Yes, you'd be my first pick for editorial feedback if I was at that level. The website w/ the sub cutout was...off btw. talked to a lot of 404 pages as I poked around.

Strange, I can still see the image. and I don't save cookies, so it always views fresh. unless you mean the website has shortcuts that were 404, yes I noticed that too. Half of them don't work. Sad, but I guess whoever upkeeps the website, went on vacation.

 

[AndriandBarblin]

I am a little bit of a history geek. What I had in mind was a small coastal submarine like the Japanese, British and Germans had. Ingalls Ship in Pascagoula Mississippi had designed one and tried to sell it to the U.S. Navy - who didn't buy it. I was thinking that their management was maybe a little bit more aggressive and built one on speculation and sailed it, unarmed of course, to the pre-war Philippines as a demonstrator unit.

These were little boats with single engines, one or two torpedo tubes, three to five torpedoes, eight to 15 crew members. Something that the Navy wouldn't really consider to be significant in the midst of a crisis. Keeping the number of characters in the story low, her seven crew members should be pretty easy to recruit, her choice. They would be guys off those boats that couldn't be salvaged and whose option was taking an ‘03 Springfield and going to Corregidor.

Most submarines when they left for patrols were just jam-packed full of food. So, I'm assuming at the start of the story she has enough food on board the ship, she also has full fuel oil tanks. Her new crew members scrounge for five fish that would have been blown up any way to prevent from falling into enemy hands and depart. she could make it to Australia and then come back to the United States and sit behind the drafting board designing things but instead decides to get busy no my cute double entendre

After successfully using her torpedoes, she makes her way to a US base. Let's see, how can a hot 27-year-old female whose sexual baseline is three or four guys a day get four or five fish? Her persuasive charms talk (well her mouth was involved) torpedoes, food and fuel out of somebody in a position of authority. No not the Commander, someone who actually has the fish, food and oil.

I‘d want to keep it semi-plausible, small boat, small crew, limited engagement area. They don’t win the war, but they contribute.

Would the concept of the whole story being an answer to her 18-year-old granddaughter’s question work? A question about all the old photographs of New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, submariners in horim (penis sleaths) and one particular submarine hanging on her wall.

“So, darling, that’s how grandma did her part for the war effort.”

Barb

 

[bettiezyx]

Japanese sub/aircraft carrier

I'm reminded that at the end of the war, the Japanese had just deployed a couple of subs that were essentially clandestine aircraft carriers. Something to think about...

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/japanese-supersub-preview-this-episode/546/

 

[Carnevil9]

Well submarines are very phallic. They are long, and hard, and full of seamen.

 

[bettiezyx]

Lol

Laughed out loud on that one.

See the prob I've got w/ the setup here is that bribing the guys to come along with the promise of being their sex object is meh, because she's supposed to be ordering them around. That feels more like dominatrix territory.

 

[AndriandBarblin]

Being in the navy in a war zone, they are already taking orders. It isn't a video game where you decide to switch discs and be a fighter pilot instead. They are navy submariners taking orders is a given, the choices are:

(1) from an old Marine on half rations on an island until the Japanese force you to surrender.

(2) in a submarine with 6 other seamen taking military orders from a "naked lady boss," who promises to give some up for her crew. (And she is a civilian, no "Rocks and Shoals" issues with fraternization.)

My only thought is she needs to be discreet so 70 guys aren't trying to get on board. But maybe that's just the ex-military guys I know.

Barb

 

[AndriandBarblin]

Well submarines are very phallic. They are long, and hard, and full of seamen.

Active sonar can make them vibrate too. (Did I say that?)